Large boulder falls through roof

The Chromczaks, of 187 Flint Ave., Little Falls, were settling in for the evening on Wednesday night at about 6 p.m. when a loud crash startled Brandy, whose husband, Joe, was at work.

Dana C. Silano

The Chromczaks, of 187 Flint Ave., Little Falls, were settling in for the evening on Wednesday night at about 6 p.m. when a loud crash startled Brandy, whose husband, Joe, was at work. She went to the garage where the noise came from and stumbled upon a large boulder that had crashed through the roof, damaging several times in its path.

Brandy had been napping at the time she heard the crash.

“Talk about a wake-up call,” she said. “Thank God no one was hurt.”

She and Joe said they think the fallen rock was roughly 800 pounds.

Brandy said her three children were inside the house when the incident occurred, but her brother-in-law, Michael Hall, 23, was just a few feet away from where the rock pummeled through. “He was supposed to be working on the brakes on the quad [that the rock hit],” Brandy said. “Thank God he sat down for a minute to take a break.”
Hall was just a few feet away on another four-wheeler.

Joe came home and their landlord, Dan Carter, was called to the scene.

Carter, who did not want to comment too much, said, “I’ve contacted insurance companies and am waiting for an answer, so I’ll do whatever they tell me needs to be done. Thank God no one was hurt.”

“It’s a shame,” said Joe. “I’m in this garage all the time working on things. I’m so glad my brother wasn’t bleeding the brakes when this happened. It would be an unfortunately bigger story then.”

Joe had just finished rebuilding the four-wheeler the same day, and it needed a little bit of touch-up work to be complete. The rock did not only damage the quad, though. It appeared to have ricocheted off the vehicle and landed on to of Chromczak’s 11-year-old daughter’s bicycle.

Little Falls Codes Enforcer Phil Green said this kind of thing is not all that uncommon in that area of Little Falls.

“Actually, it happens a lot during this time of year,” he said. “The rocks don’t usually fall through people’s homes, but it happens every year.”

Green, who grew up on Flint Avenue, said as a child, he and other children would actually hear the rocks that fell down from that area.

“Especially in April and May with the frost on the ground, heavy rain and the [soil] loosening up,” he said.

This is not the first time that a rock has fallen from the steep area above and behind the house.

Another incident involved a much smaller, watermelon-sized rock fell from the mountain, hitting the roof above the kitchen and cracking the ceiling. The Chromczaks estimated that rock to be about 100 pounds.